The field of the disclosure relates generally to air management systems and, more particularly, to an integrated air management system having reduced weight and optimized performance.
At least some known aircraft air management systems (AMS) include supply sources for high-pressure (HP), low-pressure (LP). Typically, the HP and LP flows are supplied directly from a respective bleed port on an engine on the aircraft. Various pressure and flow requirements may not be met on some engines for all ranges of operation of the aircraft. For these cases, a mixed mode bleed may be supplied through a jet pump. The jet pump receives both HP and LP air flow, mixes the flows in selectable proportions and delivers the mixed mode bleed air to the AMS. Various pressure and flow requirements may not be met on some engines for all ranges of operation of the aircraft. Moreover, newer engines tend to have constrained space requirements that do not permit the use of standard architecture jet pump components and simply scaling the standard architecture jet pumps will not be able to mix the HP and LP flows adequately. Moreover, bleeding large quantities of highly compressed air from an engine compressor tends to reduce the efficiency and/or increase the specific fuel consumption of the engine. Such a tendency can affect the overall performance of the gas turbine engine associated with the compressor and/or the entire aircraft. In addition, the use of mixed mode jet pump operation provides air at temperatures/pressure closer to the aircraft needs, allowing for a smaller pre-cooler (heat exchanger), providing an additional weight savings for the aircraft.